Catalyst
by beeftony
Summary: Artemis decides that a little fishing trip is what M'Gann needs to cheer up.


The worm's thoughts as it hurtled through the air, if a worm could be said to have thoughts, was that it missed being in the ground. The pain of being impaled on a sharp metal hook barely compared to its longing for a warm, dark burrow to wriggle in and eat dirt all day. When it plunged into the water, its thoughts became even more confused, and a pair of Martian lips tugged into a frown.

She had been fairly uncomfortable with the thought of using live bait from the start, but as the worm's primitive thoughts reached her, M'Gann's heart began to sink. When she explained this to the blonde sitting next to her, all she received in reply was a pair of rolled eyes.

"You do realize worms are barely sentient, right?"

"Well yeah, but it seems so sad and confused," she answered, looking down at the fishing pole in her hands. "I don't even see why we need to use bait anyway. I could telepathically locate the fish and then use my telekinesis to lift them out of the water."

"And if we were near a creek I could have gone arrow fishing, but you're missing the point of this," Artemis explained as she finished casting her own line and set it in the cup holder of her beach chair. "We're not here to catch as many fish as we can and then sell them at the Harbor. We're here to kick back and relax."

The Martian nodded. "Okay."

She adjusted the baseball cap on her head and leaned further back in her chair. "Why does it bother you so much, anyway? It's not like we're gonna treat the fish any better."

M'Gann frowned deeper still. "We have wildlife on Mars," she revealed, still staring at the pole. "I understand evolutional hierarchy. But... I didn't mean to read the worm's thoughts. It just sort of happened."

Artemis understood instantly, and nodded. Deciding that nothing she could say would really console the Martian, she elected instead to simply sit and let silence reign over the next several minutes.

Even though it had been over a week since the training scenario that was turned into a living nightmare following the Archer's "death," the emotional wounds still reverberated throughout the entire team. Artemis was thankful that she had been in a coma for most of it, but she could not ignore the effect it had on her teammates, particularly Miss Martian. It had been her telepathic powers that caused the scenario to become terrifyingly real in the minds of everyone involved, and now she was frightened of what might happen if she lost control again. Hence why unintentionally picking up the dying thoughts of a worm caused her to spiral back down into depression.

But that was the reason they were out here. Staying cooped up in a cave with her thoughts all day was not doing anything positive for the Martian's emotional health, and since the cave was near water she had decided that a little fishing trip was just what they needed to get her mind off of what happened. However, she had learned the hard way that after a sufficiently traumatic experience, everything started to lead you back to it.

Which was why she decided to change the subject to something completely unrelated.

"So did you morph your clothes to look like that, or did the guy at the Tackle Shop take you for every penny you had?"

The non sequitur succeeded in snapping M'Gann out of her daze, and she smiled bashfully. "Oh! Wally said I could borrow his fishing gear. His uncle Barry got it for him the last time they went fishing."

Suddenly the multitude of hooks hanging from the bowl hat made sense, as did the sheer tackiness of the tackle vest that she wore. The whole ensemble reeked of Wally's particular brand of oddball customization, but somehow the Martian made it look adorable.

"I'm surprised he didn't ask to come fishing with us," she muttered, then pondered that for a moment. "Then again, considering his attention span, not really."

In fact, none of their teammates had decided to go fishing, nor were they really invited. Superboy was still confined to quarters for going off and having an adventure on his own without permission—and causing a significant amount of collateral damage in the process—and Kaldur was seeking counsel from Aquaman on how to be a better leader or something. Wally was off cheering up Robin by taking him to a magic show in Gotham, put on by none other than Zatanna. She figured that if anything could lift the Boy Wonder's spirits after what he went through, it was the girl he practically tripped over himself to be near.

That got her to thinking about what Black Canary had postulated during their therapy session regarding her feelings towards Wally, which was not a subject on which she liked to dwell. She tolerated him a lot more now than she had when they first met, but she refused to believe that the insufferable speedster was at the top of her priorities. Especially when there was a sad Martian who needed the kind of cheering up that only another young woman could provide.

She noticed the frown had started to come back to M'Gann's face, but before she could distract her again the Martian spoke. "Artemis?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it means anything that your... your death was what caused my subconscious to take control of the scenario?"

Artemis blinked. That was a question she had not been expecting. "I... uh..." She shook her head. "I don't know. I don't think so?"

"It's just... I can't help wondering if I would have reacted the same way if it was one of the others who died first. I mean, the only one I reacted to even half as strongly was Conner, and even then I knew he probably wasn't going to make it." She closed her eyes. "Why was your death the one that caused everything?"

"Hey, I wasn't there, so I can't say," she answered as best she could. "Maybe it was just the shock?"

M'Gann shook her head. "We saw the entire Justice League die before that and even Wolf died right in front of us, and it was okay because I knew it wasn't real. But then you died and suddenly it... was." She looked up. "And it doesn't explain why the death of the others didn't affect me as much."

"Maybe it got easier to deal with? J'onn said something about collective emotions. Maybe without feedback from everybody else your mind got clearer just like his did?"

"I suppose that could be it, but... I've only known you for two months," she pointed out. "And I don't know anything about you other than you're Green Arrow's niece. I could understand getting that upset if it was one of the others, but I hardly know you at all. Why was it your death that changed everything?"

She considered coming back at her with a snippy comment, but she really only had herself to blame for keeping her private life a secret. She sighed. "Look, I don't have the answer," she admitted. "And we're not going to find it by just going back and forth like this. It sounds like something you need to figure out on your own."

"I know," the Martian replied. "It's just something I've been thinking about a lot."

"Well, you can figure it out later," she practically ordered. "Right now we're here to have some nice, relaxing time away from all that."

M'Gann nodded, then jumped in her chair as the fishing pole suddenly jerked in her hands. "I've got one!" she shrieked. "I've really got one!"

"Don't just sit there! Reel it in!"

Standing up to get better leverage, the Martian reeled in the fish with all her might, which was slight overkill considering she successfully brought in a ten pound fish only moments later.

"Wow!" she shouted as she held the fish up to her face, beaming. "This is the first time I've ever caught a fish!"

Artemis smirked and pulled out her phone. "Smile for the camera!"

One quick photo op later, and M'gann had deposited the fish into the tackle box, where it flopped around helplessly. She frowned and brought her fingers to her temples, trying to block out the panic racing through the fish's tiny brain.

"Hey," the Archer interrupted, grabbing one of her hands and squeezing tight. "You can control this, okay? Don't get depressed over a fish."

She nodded, then smiled again. "You're a great friend, Artemis."

"Don't mention it," she insisted.

And in that moment, both of them understood why M'Gann could never bear the thought of losing her.


End file.
